


Try Again (I Know I've Kissed You Before)

by costumejail



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: (all in the past hes fine now), Established Relationship, First Kiss, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sex, Kinda, Kissing, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence, Past Violence, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, References to Addiction, Sort Of, gee kobra how come the witch lets you have two boyfriends, i dont mention it but kobras trans, waveriding drugs and alcohol for varying characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26716651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costumejail/pseuds/costumejail
Summary: How do you react to figuring out that one of your crewmates knows you from a dark time in your life and never mentioned it?
Relationships: Agent Cherri Cola/Fun Ghoul/Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Agent Cherri Cola/Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Fun Ghoul/Kobra Kid (Danger Days)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Mitski's _Pink In the Night_ because of course it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter:  
> \- Vaguely referenced violence  
> \- Talking about past addiction  
> \- Vague references to sex

Kobra was not upset when they got home. He wasn’t upset. But angry? Embarrassed? Wishing Cherri hadn’t had to see that? Absolutely. He beelined for their bedroom as soon as he got through the front but left the bedroom door open behind him.

Kobra wasn’t entirely surprised when Cherri sat down behind him. He’d lain down with his back to the door, pulling his jacket tightly around his torso and curling his knees up to his chest. Cherri didn’t try to touch him, Kobra could hear him fiddling with the beads around his wrist.

“Sorry,” Kobra apologized before the silence stretched too long.

“For what? ‘S far as I noticed you weren’t the asshole harassing people in the bar.”

“Still…”

“No. You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

“Sorry you had to find out like that.”

Cherri sighed, he dragged a finger down Kobra’s arm gently. Kobra rolled onto his back so that he could see if Cherri’s face was as calm as his voice was.

“I knew that… I knew you had experience. I know you get experience with other people. I don’t mind. You know I don’t.”

“I just—” Kobra scrubbed a hand over his face and sat up. “There’s a difference between you knowing and you getting in a knife fight because one of my old hookups decided to get in your face.”

“Does it make it better if I say I would’ve fought him regardless of who he said that shit about?”

Something came out of Kobra’s mouth, either a laugh or a huff or a groan, he couldn’t really say. He pressed his forehead to Cherri’s shoulder.

“You don’t know he was right.”

Cherri didn’t say anything, he let Kobra take a deep breath and push on.

“You don’t— I never really told you about— Fuck.” Again, Kobra pulled his jacket tight around himself. “When Pois and I got to the zones, I had a hard time with the pills. They didn’t— Whatever the city had me on didn’t work but it was still… It wasn’t easy getting off them. And I picked up… Other stuff. To help.” Kobra pondered the word choice. “‘Help’. And I didn’t always make the best decisions while I was high.”

“You’re looking at a five-year wavehead, Kobes,” Cherri almost laughed. “I know about bad decisions.”

Kobra shook his head, “Not like… Not like that. I just— I would sneak off to get high — scared the shit out of Pois a few times — and when I got tall enough to get into bars I’d… I’d go and I’d drink and I’d dance and I’d…” He trailed off.

It’s never easy to admit a mistake.

“I wouldn’t make good decisions. And a lot of the time I’d, fuck, I— Okay,” Kobra steeled himself. “I fucked a lot of people, and a lot of the time I was too fucked up to be doing it but I did, and that guy today wasn’t wrong, I just— I’m not that guy anymore, even if all of the Zones know me like that.”

“Kobes, you weren’t—”

“I know, I know. I’m not proud of it and I wish I could go back and undo it all but— You know.”

Cherri’s face didn’t crumple or fall, but Kobra had never seen his eyes go so soft.

“Kobes...”

“It wasn’t all bad,” insisted Kobra, not wanting Cherri to worry too much. “There were some that were good or at least ones where I was less fucked up. There was...“

He trailed off, Cherri probably didn’t want all the details of his drug-fueled hookups. Or at least the details he could remember. 

“I want to know,” Cherri shifted, wrapping his hands loosely around Kobra’s. 

“There was this one guy at some club — I don’t know which one — he was... Sweet. Really gentle and he didn’t— I think he was a wavehead so he didn’t mind the scars and... everything. Didn’t offer to get me more fucked up like most of them did. Offered to let me crash with him but I couldn’t. I wanted to get his freq so we could meet up again,” Kobra admitted. “But he didn’t have a radio. So I never saw him again, but...”

Kobra stared into space. His jaw dropped. 

“Baby, you okay? What’s—?”

“It was Ghoul.”

“... What?”

“It was Ghoul. I— The guy at the bar was Fun Ghoul. Holy shit.”

Cherri blinked. He swallowed. He let out a breath and met Kobra’s eyes. 

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. I mean— It was Ghoul. How do you feel about that?”

Kobra couldn’t hold Cherri’s gaze anymore. He dropped his eyes to their hands, still loosely joined. Cherri squeezed his hands once. 

“I mean— It’s Ghoul. He’s— He’s Ghoul.”

“But...” prompted Cherri gently. 

“But what?”

“You said you wanted to get his frequency. Now you live with him. You’re different now, but if Ghoul was at a bar it would’ve been after we’d quit waveriding.”

“Witch, do you think he remembers?”

“I think you should ask him.”

“But what if he does? What if— Fuck. What if he—?”

“Talk to him. Whatever you want is fine.”

“Whatever I... What do you mean?”

“You care about Ghoul?”

Kobra nodded. 

“Clearly he made an impression on you.”

Kobra nodded again, a little less certain.

“So... I think you should talk. You should tell him what you told me. And whatever you two want to do is fine with me. I love you, I care about Ghoul,” Cherri pressed a kiss to Kobra’s knuckles. “Go talk to him. Even if it’s just letting him know you remembered. If he remembers it clearly didn’t make him think less of you.”

“Do you think he did?”

“Only one way to find out, love.”

A third time, Kobra nodded. He leaned forward into a kiss, smiling softly against Cherri’s lips. When he pulled back, Cherri’s eyes were closed. He opened them and smiled. 

“Okay, I’m gonna... go talk to him.”

Cherri’s smile grew.

“Good idea.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter:  
> \- Smoking  
> \- One character goes nonverbal briefly  
> \- More talking about violence (a little more explicit but still very vague)  
> \- Talking about slutshaming  
> \- References to sex

Ghoul was in the garage. He wasn’t working on anything, just idly staring into the distance while the radio played static and a cigarette burned down to the filter between his fingers.

“Ghoul?” Kobra edged into the garage, knocking over a toolbox with a loud clatter.

“Fuck!” Ghoul jumped, dropping the cigarette as he reached for one of his knives. When he saw that it was Kobra, he froze, then relaxed back into his seat. “Hey, Kobes. How was date night?”

“Cut short—” Speaking was suddenly a much bigger chore than it needed to be. “We— We, uh… We—”

“Hey,” in an instant, Ghoul was at Kobra’s side, concern playing across his features. “You look like you’re about to go off your feet. C’mon, sit down. What happened?”

Kobra sat, he pulled at his jacket and shook his head back and forth. Slowly, Ghoul grabbed a small length of chain and handed it to Kobra when he sat next to him. While Kobra ran the links through his fingers, Ghoul reached over to turn the static off.

“No stress. Take your time, I’ll go yes or no. I don’t have any paper, are you okay t’ nod?”

Kobra nodded, eyes fixed on the grease rubbing off the chain and onto his fingers.

Soothingly, Ghoul began to run through questions.

“Are you hurt?”

Kobra shook his head.

“Is Cherri hurt?”

Another shake of Kobra’s head.

“You sick?”

No.

“Cherri sick?”

No.

Kobra looked at the chain in his hands, then at Ghoul’s where they were twisted together in his lap. Slowly, Kobra reached out to grab Ghoul’s hand. Ghoul let him, stroking his thumb over Kobra’s gently.

“Okay, Y’went to Mollycoddles, right? Was there a fight?”

Kobra nodded.

He let go of Ghoul’s hand to sign, “Cherri fought someone.” 

“Oh,” Ghoul barely kept the surprise out of his voice. “Who?”

“I don’t know his name.”

“Was there… A reason? Cherri doesn’t fight unless it’s serious.”

“Guy knew me. Three years past we fucked.”

“Oh.”

“Today he called me whore.”

“ _Oh._ ”

“Cherri stabbed him.”

“Nice,” Ghoul laughed.

Kobra laughed too, just a chuckle, but enough to make Ghoul’s smile widen. Kobra looked at his smile for a little longer than he should have.

Ghoul cleared his throat, “But y’said Cherri was okay. So, what’s got you bothered? Just didn’t like seein’ it?”

Kobra raised his hands, then dropped them. He coughed. He tugged on the hem of his jacket and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He raised his hands again.

“We fucked.”

Ghoul choked on an inhale and coughed. He hunched forward, hacking into his elbow. When he straightened up, his eyes looked watery.

“We,” Ghoul mirrored Kobra’s sign, “ _fucked_?”

“At Hyperthrust,” nodded Kobra.

“I didn’t think you remembered,” Ghoul finally admitted.

“I didn’t,” whispered Kobra, surprising even himself. He switched back to signing to continue, “Today I remembered. You never said anything.”

“I… I didn’t think you remembered.”

“Now I do.”

“Okay,” Ghoul coughed again, just slightly. “I was gonna tell you, I swear. But… You didn’t say anything when I joined th’ crew and I thought, _maybe he’s embarrassed_ , an’ I wasn’t gonna push it and then Cherri showed up an’ you told me about your past and I realized that maybe you just didn’t remember. But then you were with Cherri and I wasn’t gonna bring it up. Yinz’re so happy.”

“We are,” Kobra turned, widening his eyes. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” Ghoul looked down. “If you are, then yeah.”

“Ghoul.” Now that it was all out there, it was easier for Kobra to talk again. Easier, but not easy. “Cherri said he’d be fine with whatever I wanted.”

“Don’t,” Ghoul’s jaw was tight. “You’re happy with him and I can’t— You’re happy with him. You don’t need to do anything for me.”

“Ghoul…” Kobra swung his leg over the bench so that he was sitting sideways, looking at Ghoul’s profile.

“Kobes, I can’t—”

“I wanted to call you. I wanted to. I— If I’d known—”

“What?” Ghoul didn’t shout, didn’t raise his voice, but his soft tone had an edge to it. “You can’t want t' be with me because you half-remembered one hookup.”

“And two years living together.”

Ghoul turned to straddle the bench, too. He met Kobra’s gaze again. He softened.

“Cherri said whatever I wanted. I want— I want to try.”

“Why?”

Kobra couldn’t keep down a smile, “You’re you. It’d be just like normal.”

“Yeah?”

Kobra slid a hand around the back of Ghoul’s neck and Ghoul’s eyes slipped shut. When Kobra leaned in to press their foreheads together, he could feel Ghoul’s breath on his lips.

A sigh passed through Ghoul’s lips. “This doesn’t feel like normal,” he whispered.

“Mostly like normal,” amended Kobra. He pulled Ghoul in closer, their lips brushed when he murmured, “Can we try?”

“I want to,” Ghoul’s voice cracked midway through the sentence.

Kobra whispered, “Me too.”

“But if it’s not like you remember… I don’ think I did it right the first time.”

“So try again.”

Ghoul’s eyes fluttered open, But Kobra didn’t see them. He closed his eyes and tilted his head just enough to press his lips against Ghoul’s.

It felt different but familiar in a good way. Warm and soothing and gentle. Ghoul pulled back first, gasping like he’d run a marathon, though they’d barely kissed for more than a handful of seconds.

When Kobra opened his eyes, the first thing he saw were tear tracks down Ghoul’s cheeks.

“Hey,” he smoothed his thumb over Ghoul’s scar and up to his cheekbone, leaving a faint smear of grease. “Y’okay?”

Ghoul nodded, bumping his forehead against Kobra’s, “Just... Never thought I’d get to kiss you sober.”

Kobra nodded, his own eyes a little misty. 

Ghoul sniffed. “Not really how I pictured this,” he laughed wetly.

“You pictured this?”

“Once or twice.”

Slowly, Ghoul leaned back in. Kobra felt Ghoul’s hands come up to cup his jaw and he reached for Ghoul’s wrist with the hand that wasn’t busy at the back of Ghoul’s neck. The kisses weren’t rushed, but cautious and slow. Kobra pulled back first this time, just enough to wrap his arms around Ghoul and bury his face in the space between his neck and shoulder. One of Ghoul’s arms looped around Kobra’s waist, the other one tangling in his hair. Kobra felt Ghoul press a kiss to the side of his head. Hidden in Ghoul’s arms, Kobra dropped one kiss to his collarbone before he pulled back.

“We should tell Cherri.”

“We should tell Cherri,” agreed Ghoul.

Kobra got up, lacing his fingers through Ghoul’s and tugging him towards the garage door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments/[chatting on tumblr](sleevesareforlosers.tumblr.com) are 100 percent encouraged!


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